What to Do to Prep Your House for Fall

The days are getting shorter, and the nights are getting cooler. The kids are trudging off to school again, and leaves are falling from the trees. Yep, it’s official: autumn is here. Now’s the time to finish up any last-minute maintenance projects and get your home and yard ready. Here is your definitive to-do list to prep your house for fall.

Get Cracking

For our Sussex County, NJ storage clients now is the perfect time of year to fix cracks in concrete and asphalt. It’s still warm and sunny enough to repair driveway and sidewalk cracks before the winter freeze makes them worse.

Put Your Mind in the Gutters

Cleaning gutters. We know, no one loves this job, but we all need to do it annually. A few hours of work can prevent big problems later on. While you’re up on that ladder, visually inspect your roof for damaged shingles, flashing or vents.

Turn off Outdoor Plumbing

This you will want to wait on until it gets closer to the freezing season. Your landscape will typically need some watering throughout fall. But when you do, be sure to drain outdoor faucets and sprinkler systems, and cover them to protect them from the freezing weather to come.

Flower Power

Don’t wait on this one. Plant flower bulbs in October, as soon as the soil has cooled down, to reap big rewards next spring. If you’ve never planted bulbs before, select a spot in your yard that gets full sun during the day.

Get Santa-Ready

Clean out the fireplace, inspect the flue, and ensure the doors and shields are sound. Have the chimney professionally swept if needed. Now’s also the time to stock up on firewood! Even gas fireplaces need their chimneys cleaned and inspected to ensure there are no bird or squirrel nests blocking the flue, and that the chimney pipe is free of cracks that can allow smoke to enter your home. This job is best left to pros though.

Keep the Cold Out

Inspect your windows and doors for air leaks. Check weather-stripping by opening a door, placing a piece of paper in the entryway and closing the door. The paper should not slide back and forth easily. If it does, the weather stripping isn’t doing its job.

Magic Mudrooms

No mudroom? No problem. Now’s a good time to think about organizing and stocking an entryway that will serve as a “mudroom” area for cold and wet weather. Put down an indoor-outdoor rug to protect the floor. A fun weekend DIY project is to build a wooden shoe rack, coat rack or storage bench for your entryway.

Store the Past Season

People use self-storage for storing seasonal items all the time. When the temperature starts to drop as summer gives way to fall, there are many items that are put away until warm weather returns again in the spring. Instead of loading up closets and your garage with these items, get them completely out of the way by using self-storage. And AA1 Sussex County, NJ Storage has got you covered. Call or email us today for the current specials on our all ground floor units. Some of our amenities include clean, safe, secure storage with computerized gate access and state of the art surveillance.